Four Elements Book 3 - Sacrifice

Part 39

They all looked at her. Andie was impressed by how calm she looked. A year ago, she would probably have hidden behind her long hair. Now, she was much more confident.

"What are you thinking?" Emily asked.

"Well... remember when we used that portal device in Zorak's study after rescuing Andie?" Isabelle asked. "We thought it might not work for anyone else, but it did. So I was thinking... maybe we can do it the other way around."

"... You mean... portal to the Demon Realm?" Emily asked.

"Izzie, we already did that," Bane reminded. "Element portal, remember?"

"Yes, we did that as a team." Isabelle argued patiently. "I mean doing it by ourselves."

"Why would we want to do that?"

"Because then, we can move around more discreetly," Andie said, catching on. "We're six, we'd be kind of hard to miss... but how would we do it?"

Isabelle hesitated, then looked at Zarias.

"Well... I thought... Zarias could show us."

A heavy silence fell as they all waited for Jessica to explode. When she didn't, Andie looked at her uncertainly. She looked unhappy, but not furious.

"Fine, why not. Can't hurt to try." Jessica said briskly.

They all gaped at her, not trying to hide their surprise.

"What? I don't like it, but I'm outnumbered."

"Ahem. Moving on. Zarias...? What do you think? Is it possible?" Isabelle asked.

Zarias glanced at them all in turn, thoughtful.

"I don't know..." he admitted after a moment. "I've never needed to consider it. But I suppose if you were able to use the device to come back to Earth... it might work in the other direction, too..."

"The way I see it, the only way to find out is by trying," Emily said.

"I'm willing to if you are," Bane said, looking at Andie.

Andie hesitated. She couldn't refuse, and at the same time, she wasn't sure she liked this idea very much. There were too many unknown factors for her liking.

"... What if we can't? What if we end up anywhere but in the Demon Realm?" she asked. "I'm not saying I don't want to help your mother or Balon, not at all," she added hastily when he began to argue. "I just think maybe we should try and find a back-up plan, you know?"

"There is no back-up plan," Bane said. "This is the only way we can hope to go unnoticed, and even then, it's far from guaranteed."

"All the more reason to be careful," Andie countered. "We all want this to work, Bane, you know that. But we're already taking huge risks. I think we have to try our best to remove any difficulties we can."

There was a silence, so Andie went on:

"Besides, getting there is one thing, and that sounds like it'll be hard enough. But what about when we do get there? Zorak will almost certainly have as many Umbras as he can conjure. Are we sure we're ready for that?"

"You and I can deal with those," Bane reminded her, lacing his fingers through hers.

"On Earth," Andie replied. "We never tried that in the Demon Realm. And I don't like that this is the trial run."

"Me either, but we don't have time for trial runs," Isabelle sighed. "It's going to have to be the way to go."

Bane pondered for a moment, then said:

"Okay. It's..." he looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "Ten to three. We'll give ourselves up till midnight to work out our plan, and take off at dawn. Does everyone agree with that?"

Everyone did.

"What about our parents?"

"Just... say we decided to have an impromptu study session." Bane suggested. "They shouldn't argue too much with that..."

It had worked before, though Andie was just waiting for the day where they wouldn't believe that excuse anymore. Immediately, the girls snatched up their phones and began calling or texting their families.

"My parents won't be so easy to deal with..." Andie sighed, her head in her hands. "I switched off my cell but they're bound to call the house soon."

"I'll deal with your parents, Andie, don't worry," Robert said, patting her shoulder. "But first... cocoa. I think better with hot chocolate, don't you?"